Aces on Bridge

Aces on Bridge

February 17, 2010

Some players hate to go down in a contract they might have made by using a technically sound line. Others would always rather go for what they consider the best practical line and not worry about looking silly. Consider today's deal from the finals of the Yeh Brother's Cup last year as a classic example of the two different approaches.

Both Souths reached three no-trump after North had opened a Precision club, keeping East out of the bidding. Both Wests led an attitude spade three. (The smaller the card, the more they liked the suit.)

For the Dutch, Bas Drijver preferred to play the best technical line (hoping that spades would be 4-3 or that there would be a doubleton double-honor in the East hand to prevent the defenders from running four tricks there). He therefore rose with the spade ace and knocked out the heart ace. When the spade suit refused to run for the defenders, he had his nine tricks.

By contrast, the Swedish declarer, true to his nature, went for the psychological line of ducking the first spade. If spades were continued, he would be no worse off and might be much better off. (Consider East with an initial holding of the doubleton spade queen, for example.) Alas for him, East could see that his partner had a near Yarborough and realized that his only chance was to find the club queen in the West hand. He shifted to a club at trick two and defeated the game by two tricks.

If you would like to contact Bobby Wolff, e-mail him at bobbywolff@mindspring.com.